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Simon Bikindi
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Simon Bikindi
Simon Bikindi (28 September 1954 – 15 December 2018) was a Rwandan musician and singer who was prominent in Rwanda during the 1980s and 1990s. His patriotic and ultranationalist songs were playlist staples on the national radio station Radio Rwanda during the Rwandan Civil War. For his actions during the Rwandan genocide, he was tried and convicted for incitement to genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in 2008. He died in Benin on December 15, 2018.
Bikindi, an ethnic Hutu, was born in Rwerere in the northwestern prefecture of Gisenyi, the same region from which former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and many of the key figures in his MRND regime originated.
At the time of the genocide, he was a "well-known composer and singer of popular music and director of the performance group Irindiro Ballet." His songs were described as having "elliptical lyrics and catchy tunes", mixing English, French and Kinyarwanda and combining rap-style texts with traditional folk song melodies. His first cassette, released in 1990, was of traditional wedding songs. He was additionally a civil servant of the Ministry of Youth and Sport and a member of the MRND party.
Some of his songs directed against the Tutsi were played on Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines to incite killings. He left the country a few days before the beginning of the genocide but returned later in June. It is a matter of debate whether and to what extent he participated in the genocide as such, but according to the ruling of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was associated with the extremist Interahamwe militia and publicly urged Hutus to exterminate all Tutsis in June 1994. After the RPF takeover, he fled the country. His songs are banned in Rwanda since 1994.
Bikindi was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He was charged with the following: conspiracy to commit genocide; genocide, or alternatively complicity in genocide; direct and public incitement to commit genocide, and murder and persecution, as crimes against humanity. The indictment stated that Bikindi "composed, sang, recorded or distributed musical works extolling Hutu solidarity and accusing Tutsis of enslaving Hutus". The prosecution cited a song entitled "The Awakening" but commonly referred to as "I hate these Hutus" ("Nanga Abahutu"), which attacked "pro-Tutsi" Hutus and specifically those Hutus who collaborated with the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front insurgents against the government.
In addition, it was argued that in the months prior to the genocide, Bikindi had "consulted with President Juvénal Habyarimana, Minister of Youth and Sports Callixte Nzabonimana and MRND-aligned military authorities on song lyrics" before releasing them to be played on the Hutu Power radio station RTLM. The prosecution also claimed that during the 100 days of genocide from 7 April to 14 July 1994, Bikindi participated personally in the killings, both in Kigali and Gisenyi prefecture, and helped to recruit and organise Interahamwe militias.
Following his arrest in Leiden, Netherlands on 12 July 2001, Bikindi fought extradition and requested asylum. However, eight months later, on 27 March 2002, he was placed in the custody of the ICTR. He subsequently entered a plea of not guilty to all the charges against him and was imprisoned at the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha, Tanzania. After a series of delays, his war crimes trial was set to begin on 15 May 2006. He was represented by the chairman of the Kenyan section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Wilfred Ngunjiri Nderitu.
In addition to other evidence, the prosecution cited a song celebrating the abolition of monarchy and the regaining of independence from 1959 to 1961: a Rwandan expert in the trial later expounded that the latter song could not have been addressed to the Rwandan nation as a whole, because the Tutsis were associated with the Rwandan monarchy and colonial regime, and that it was impossible to hate the monarchy without hating the Tutsis. The defence argued that there were contradictions in the witness testimonies, denying that the songs were about Tutsis and invoking Tutsi witnesses whom Bikindi had allegedly "helped to save their lives".
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Simon Bikindi
Simon Bikindi (28 September 1954 – 15 December 2018) was a Rwandan musician and singer who was prominent in Rwanda during the 1980s and 1990s. His patriotic and ultranationalist songs were playlist staples on the national radio station Radio Rwanda during the Rwandan Civil War. For his actions during the Rwandan genocide, he was tried and convicted for incitement to genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in 2008. He died in Benin on December 15, 2018.
Bikindi, an ethnic Hutu, was born in Rwerere in the northwestern prefecture of Gisenyi, the same region from which former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and many of the key figures in his MRND regime originated.
At the time of the genocide, he was a "well-known composer and singer of popular music and director of the performance group Irindiro Ballet." His songs were described as having "elliptical lyrics and catchy tunes", mixing English, French and Kinyarwanda and combining rap-style texts with traditional folk song melodies. His first cassette, released in 1990, was of traditional wedding songs. He was additionally a civil servant of the Ministry of Youth and Sport and a member of the MRND party.
Some of his songs directed against the Tutsi were played on Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines to incite killings. He left the country a few days before the beginning of the genocide but returned later in June. It is a matter of debate whether and to what extent he participated in the genocide as such, but according to the ruling of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was associated with the extremist Interahamwe militia and publicly urged Hutus to exterminate all Tutsis in June 1994. After the RPF takeover, he fled the country. His songs are banned in Rwanda since 1994.
Bikindi was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He was charged with the following: conspiracy to commit genocide; genocide, or alternatively complicity in genocide; direct and public incitement to commit genocide, and murder and persecution, as crimes against humanity. The indictment stated that Bikindi "composed, sang, recorded or distributed musical works extolling Hutu solidarity and accusing Tutsis of enslaving Hutus". The prosecution cited a song entitled "The Awakening" but commonly referred to as "I hate these Hutus" ("Nanga Abahutu"), which attacked "pro-Tutsi" Hutus and specifically those Hutus who collaborated with the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front insurgents against the government.
In addition, it was argued that in the months prior to the genocide, Bikindi had "consulted with President Juvénal Habyarimana, Minister of Youth and Sports Callixte Nzabonimana and MRND-aligned military authorities on song lyrics" before releasing them to be played on the Hutu Power radio station RTLM. The prosecution also claimed that during the 100 days of genocide from 7 April to 14 July 1994, Bikindi participated personally in the killings, both in Kigali and Gisenyi prefecture, and helped to recruit and organise Interahamwe militias.
Following his arrest in Leiden, Netherlands on 12 July 2001, Bikindi fought extradition and requested asylum. However, eight months later, on 27 March 2002, he was placed in the custody of the ICTR. He subsequently entered a plea of not guilty to all the charges against him and was imprisoned at the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha, Tanzania. After a series of delays, his war crimes trial was set to begin on 15 May 2006. He was represented by the chairman of the Kenyan section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Wilfred Ngunjiri Nderitu.
In addition to other evidence, the prosecution cited a song celebrating the abolition of monarchy and the regaining of independence from 1959 to 1961: a Rwandan expert in the trial later expounded that the latter song could not have been addressed to the Rwandan nation as a whole, because the Tutsis were associated with the Rwandan monarchy and colonial regime, and that it was impossible to hate the monarchy without hating the Tutsis. The defence argued that there were contradictions in the witness testimonies, denying that the songs were about Tutsis and invoking Tutsi witnesses whom Bikindi had allegedly "helped to save their lives".